


Faith

by Nerdwithapen



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, Hylia - Freeform, Prayer, Young!Zelda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26090020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdwithapen/pseuds/Nerdwithapen
Summary: An exploration of when Zelda decided to pursue technology, no longer certain that the Goddess Hylia would ever answer her prayers. || Drabble ||
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Faith

"I pray for your help."  
  
The water was cold. It was _always_ cold.   
  
"As I have done so many times before...please, help me to unlock this power that has been handed down over time."  
  
Zelda waited, hands clasped and head bowed, but felt nothing. There was always _nothing._ She took a deep breath and looked up into the Goddess's stone likeness, details of Her face etched away with time, save for the small smile that felt so very mocking. As though the Goddess enjoyed watching Hyrule's Princess shiver and pray to no avail, as though She found it all quaint and amusing. Perhaps She did. Perhaps that was why She insisted on remaining deaf to Zelda's prayers.   
  
Or perhaps she merely heard the words that echoed deep in Zelda's heart, thoughts that she never dared say aloud— except for that one night. For she was cold, and she was tired, and it had been days that she had lingered in the Spring of Courage. She thought that perhaps courage meant finally saying what she had always wanted to during her long hours of prayer.   
  
"You are a cruel Goddess," Zelda murmured, words trembling off her lips, "and if you are not _cruel_ , then you are not _real._ "   
  
She waited, heart racing, shoulders stiff as though she would be slapped in reprimand, but nothing happened. Nothing ever happened.  
  
"If you truly care for Hyrule, why deny me?" She spoke louder, the shaking of her voice slowly steadying, "They will die without this power, and you could prevent it. You could prevent so much—"   
  
Zelda's voice raised louder still and she could no longer feel the coldness of the spring. Instead, she felt heat in her cheeks and fingers; she felt a rush; she felt numb.   
  
" _—you chose to stand by while those who devote themselves to you suffer!_ You chose to let those who are faithful die, and you—"   
  
How very **faithful** her mother had been.   
  
How very **silent** the Goddess had stayed when she became ill, and Zelda's tiny hands prayed and prayed and prayed.   
  
"You have abandoned Hyrule and if I am wrong, then **strike me** —"   
  
Nothing happened.   
  
"If I have committed blasphemy, then **punish me** —"  
  
Nothing happened.   
  
"If you exist at all, **do something!** "   
  
Nothing happened.   
  
Yet Zelda quivered regardless and felt for all the world like a small child before a parent, throwing a tantrum without even the reward of acknowledgment. She glared to the Goddess and was met with indifference. Tears brimmed her eyes and her face turned hot, heated with anger and embarrassment and more hurt than her heart knew how to bare.   
  
She had never been in love. Her dedication to Hylia had not left room for such things. Still, Zelda imagined at that moment that her breaking heart must have felt similar to the stories she'd heard of scorned lovers, and she understood now why they did such reckless things. **Said** such horrible things. If this was love, then Zelda decided she wanted no part of it in the future.   
  
"I won't wait for you any longer."   
  
Her tears spilled and she was crying through her words, hands unclasped and pulling her dress up in flustered fistfuls as she stepped back from the Goddess. " _I'll protect them myself. I'll find a way._ "   
  
Thoughts snapped to the Sheikah Technology she had studied since her youth, to the wonders they had once made. If they could capture that knowledge again, if they could use it against Ganon...then the Goddess Hylia, who didn't need the people of Hyrule, would no longer be needed in turn.   
  
The water splashed as Zelda pushed her way out of the spring, dress still clutched in tightly balled up hands. She released it only to wipe furiously at the tears still streaming down her cheeks.   
  
"I don't need you," she croaked, but could no longer bring herself to turn around and look at the statues face once more, "I'll never return here, _not ever._ "   
  
Zelda had expected the words to be freeing and sharp, cutting through the Goddess's tie to her like a soldier's sword. Instead, they only felt sad, and she was filled with an immense sense of **regret**. Part of her wished to take everything back, to cry more and be forgiven, to have an _explanation_ and _reassurance._  
  
But though she waited by the Springs edge until nightfall, giving her face time to calm down and her dress a chance to dry, the Goddess said, and did, nothing.


End file.
